Why is it in the News?

To revive the population of tigers in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) — the lone tiger reserve in the Maharashtra western region — the state’s forest department will soon translocate tigers from Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district.

What are Wildlife Corridors?

• Corridors are essentially habitats and pathways that connect wildlife populations, which are fragmented by human settlements and infrastructure works.
• They are crucial for the long-term survival of the tiger population as they help guard against localised extinctions and ensure the exchange of gene flow, which helps in population diversity.
• Tigers have large home ranges and often travel long distances in search of mates and food.
  • In doing so, they make use of these wildlife corridors and cross several human-dominated landscapes.
• The role played by corridors in conservation is a well-established one and has been incorporated into policy decisions as well.
• Mitigation measures such as underpasses, and wildlife crossings are now routinely ordered to safeguard tigers and other wildlife in projects where linear infrastructure projects fragment habitats.
• Litigation, advocacy, and policymaking have all contributed to this.
  • The construction of an overpass on the National Highway- 7 to protect the migratory route of tigers underneath between the Kanha and Pench Tiger Reserves is one instance of embedding mitigation measures to protect corridors.
• Tigers routinely use the space beneath the elevated stretch of the highway to cross the forests.
  • In 2014-15, the National Tiger Conservation Authority and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) mapped 32 major tiger corridors in the country across four broad tiger landscapes – Shivalik Hills and Gangetic plains, Central India and Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats, and the North East Hills.

Is Translocation the Best Approach for Tiger Recovery?

• Tiger translocation projects have been undertaken in India since 2008.
  • Sariska Tiger Reserve, in 2008, and Panna Tiger Reserve, in 2009, have witnessed successful tiger reintroduction and translocation projects.
• There have also been failures and shelving of reintroduction plans, like in the case of Satkosia Tiger Reserve in Odisha, which was the country’s first inter-state translocation project.
• However, before choosing translocation, other available options such as habitat improvement, prey augmentation, strengthening of tiger corridors, and vigilance improvement should be assessed.
• Even after translocations, one must ensure that corridors are strengthened and they are free of major disturbances.
  • This will ensure the dispersal of tigers to other source population areas.